in their own way
by redlettergirl
Summary: Fifty moments that define them all. One-sentence challenge.


01 - Move

"Go," Haji says, and the words are still brushing against the back of her ear when she leaps out and slashes through the first beast.

02 - Sleep

Haji knew that he would not be there to wish Saya a peaceful sleep, and accepted it; he'd already given her a goodnight kiss.

03 - Inspire

The first time Mao went on a trip across the world, it was to find Kai; the second time, it was because, as she put it, "That dumbass Okamura wouldn't know what to do without me!"

04 - Sweat

There was sweat on the side of Haji's face as he watched Saya being strangled, and Nathan couldn't help but wonder what the rest of the man would look like covered in it and screaming.

05 - Lovely

"Ah, Julia," Lewis laughs assuringly, reaching for another donut, "you're too pretty for 'im not to notice ya sooner or later."

06 - Breathe

Riku isn't breathing, and as useless as it is, Kai can't think of anything else to do but scream his name.

07 - Rough

Amshel can't help but be annoyed the way the others snicker or look away when he makes mention of Diva's gentleness; then, it is his turn to take her to bed, and he understands.

08 - Strike

When Kai doesn't have the skills necessary to actually land a punch on David, he thinks himself a man; when he has them, he no longer needs to.

09 - Help

Haji is a broken chevalier, and Amshel is only helping to complete the illusion when he rips the wing from the man's back.

10 - Resist

He must be brave, Riku tells himself, over and over (because there's nothing he can do to stop her).

11 - Meet

As she lay dying, Saya leaning over her with an offering of blood, Irene suddenly wishes that their meeting several weeks ago could have been a little friendlier.

12 - Taut

As hard as Julia tried with her outfits and her subtle come-ons, the words "I love you," were never closer to David's lips than when she would put those doctor's fingers to work at his taut and knotted shoulders.

13 - Thirst

When Saya clings to him, inch long fangs buried in his neck, Haji simply holds her and pretends not to notice the way she shakes.

14 - All

The girls—no, women now—marvel at Saya when she wakes from her slumber; Kai, apparently, has told them all about "aunt Saya, the greatest hero of all time".

15 – Fog

She emerges from the mist shrouding London, focused and sharp, and Kai will later wonder what she has done with his sister.

16 – Before

Moses watches as Irene crumbles to nothing, and he wonders how this mission to live could have seemed so straightforward, back then.

17 – Hurt

The lost arm was insignificant compared to the way she looked at him—looked, and saw nothing.

18 – Kind

Solomon wonders, on occasion, what Diva might have been like, had she been shown even the barest scrap of kindness as a child; then, he looks at Amshel, and wonders if it would have changed anything at all.

19 – Warm

France is cold, Russia is cold, and New York just might be the coldest of all; strangely enough, it is only there that she touches him, and realizes what has been keeping her warm for so long.

20 – Pattern

The staff at the school are just as aware of the disappearances as the students they teach; they are also quite aware that the headmaster was fond of those particular girls while they were still around.

21 – Cycle

The girls are used to it now: once every thirty years, Haji will pause, listen, then leave with only a smile to retrieve aunt Saya and begin it all over again.

22 – Glow

Kai doesn't merely smell of summer, nor feel of it alone; he glows as it does, so bright that it would be impossible for her not to find her way home.

23 – Zero

When she is gone, tearing her way through the ruins of Vietnam (and his heart), there is no one left for him.

24 – Wonder

"Do you think Saya will look sorry," Diva actually seems to ponder, a finger to her upturned lips and eyes on the sky, "when I slit her throat?"

25 – Scold

Okamura tries to scold her, _really_ tries ("You should respect your elders!" this and "I was doing this while you were in diapers!" that and blah blah_ blah_), but Mao can never quite take him seriously when a kiss is all it takes to distract him.

26 – Figure

She thinks him nothing more than a madman, a black figure, a shadow at her back, and he will accept this position, if she will allow such a man to protect her.

27 – Then

As he watches the Thorn slide, glowing and horrible, across Karmen's face, Moses remembers the days in his cell when he would sit and imagine what that face might look like.

28 – Lie

"It's okay, Kai, I'm all right."

29 – Hunt

Diva cackles as they open fire on her, overcome with mirth; what kind of stupid prey didn't realize when it was being hunted?

30 – Mistake

He made a mistake, taking her place on the cliff side, and in that achieved so much more than he ever had through honest effort.

31 – Birth

For one instant, as he's gently realigning the bloodied flesh of her stomach so it will heal properly, Amshel's eyes meet Diva's, and a smile lights her face; after that, they meet no more, for she has eyes only for the babies.

32 – Cut

"Does it hurt, Saya?" James asks, then tears a jagged line through her chest and listens to mother's worst enemy scream.

33 – Double

Haji has never seen the two of them side by side, and prays he never will; to see a likeness is to betray her.

34 - Cover

He has no time to stop and think on it, of course, but the day that one well placed bullet from Kai manages to save David from a charging chiroptoran, the latter knows that something significant has just taken place.

35 – Lick

His tongue slides across her flesh as his teeth sink in, and he chuckles as she gasps and Saya, _Saya, SAYA, don't you love me now, Saya?_

36 – Wheel

Kai spun, opened the classroom door, and stepped inside; everything was irreversibly different after that.

37 – Slight

James isn't sure what the chauffeur said, but it seemed to anger Diva, so he wastes no time in messily relieving the man of his head.

38 – Fling

Haji feels the cart and his spine snap to splinters as he hits it; he is only allowed a moment of utter horror before all goes black, and he has failed.

39 – Sorry

As they stand before his brother, poised and ready for battle, Solomon hopes this will be enough of an apology (for he can feel the painful cold turning him to stone, and he knows he will not get another chance).

40 – Call

It was just like Mao to call him during very important undercover work, effectively ruining the whole thing and nearly getting him killed; it was also just like her to tell him to get over himself and turn his phone on silent next time.

41 – Jewel

Big brother Amshel calls Diva his diamond, his little treasure amongst a word of filth and cheap stone; Solomon wonders if that's really all she means to him.

42 – Fruit

Diva loves the way humans seem to pop if she bites them just right—almost like grapes, but much, _much_ tastier.

43 – House

The Omoro isn't a house by any stretch of the imagination, but that doesn't stop it from being the perfect home.

44 – Swim

The two of them watched—him floating on his back, her against his shoulder—as Diva and her chevalier flew away from the wreckage, unscathed; all Saya could do was scream.

45 – Family

One night, when she's strong enough to move into the living room and quietly look in on the others (Lulu, speedily explaining the plot of her TV show to a smiling Julia; Kai, having it out with Mao over something minuscule; David and Lewis talking quietly in the corner, the latter occasionally laughing at the former's expense; and Haji, a everlastingly warm presence at her side), Saya senses something oddly familiar about the scene that she can't quite pin down.

46 – Interest

Karl sees the way that Diva obsesses over this boy of Saya's, and he is not sure whether he'd rather kill the child, or be him.

47 – Record

Kai doesn't show the girls Joel's Diary, the photographs of Saya's bloody rampages, or the accounts of a century's worth of bloodshed; instead, he shows them the photograph of her with Haji, of their family, of all of them together, for that shows Saya for what she truly is.

48 – Glass

Somehow, Amshel thinks, the way that Diva giggles as she smashes through flesh-rending glass is a perfect summation of everything she is.

49 – Shape

He is shattered into a thousand pieces, crushed and broken beneath the remains of the Metropolitan Opera House, smashed into a shape that he is sure even he would not recognize; then he thinks of Saya, and the smallest scraps of bone begin to pull themselves back together.

50 – Live

"Saya," they all say, all at once, in their own way, "live."


End file.
